Potassium Carbonate From Banana Peels

In this video I demonstrate how to extract potassium carbonate from Banana Peels. This is a useful reagent and will be used in future projects. If you enjoyed this video, check out some of my others and drop a like and subscribe for more!
Some activities demonstrated in this video may be dangerous to replicate and should NOT be attempted by individuals at home. While chemistry is very enjoyable, safety must always be number one concern and doing research is very important before trying the reactions themselves. This video is solely intended for educational purposes and should not be replicated in any way shape or form at home.
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[@quagmier3]

Nice video. First video should have been how to buy bananas at 5 cents a pound and next video should be how to make 100 loaves of banana bread.

[@Amateur.Chemistry]

Very nice to see you making videos again, I also plan to turn bananas into potassium someday :)

[@edeniaAJ]

That's really cool. I can see this being useful for things like fertilisers for crops that require basic mediums, like potatoes and, well, bananas.

[@7hunderstorm242]

Bro you made such a short video for such a long projet 😂

[@konsol-sj9wz]

Video ni betul sebab dalam 🍌 memang ada potassium nitrat yg bagus untuk tubuh manusia dan haiwan.🍌 juga ada karbohidrat.potassium nitrat bagus untuk tumbuhan dan boleh digunakan untuk buat roket❤❤🎉.

[@kreynolds1123]

I've had this question for a long time. When it most appropriate to use the terms basic vs alkaline?

[@TheCanadianChemist]

hmmm, I’ve never thought about that. I think I kind of use them interchangeably.

[@WaffleStaffel]

That's an interesting question, and there seems to be multiple different explanations on the web.

[@cleggusweasley7612]

pretty sure alkaline is only for basic compounds that are soluble; basic can refer to soluble or insoluble compounds

[@chemicalmaster3267]

@The Canadian Chemist There´s actually a way to improve the yield of potassium carbonate from plant and vegetable ashes: after washing the ashes with water to obtain the alkaline filtrate which probably contains some other potassium salts besides the carbonate, treat the solution with some calcium chloride to remove the carbonate ions from solution (as well as other ions that form insoluble calcium salts like sulfate or phosphate for example). If there´s an excess of calcium chloride in solution you´ll need to precipitate it with sodium carbonate. Now this is the part where things get interesting: after the previous steps are done, take the resulting impure solution of potassium chloride and boil it until it gets concentrated. The next step is to get some tartaric acid and convert it into sodium hydrogen tartarate a.k.a sodium bitartarate by partially neutralizing it with sodium hydroxide, carbonate or bicarbonate, and after concentrating this solution as well all you have to do is mix it with the potassium solution and a crystalline precipitate of potassium bitartarate will form. From this potassium bitartarate you can make pure potassium carbonate by roasting it.

[@maelgrum]

Nice video. But your ash is black - it is not fully carbonized. It must be gray/dark white.

[@TheCanadianChemist]

yeah, there was definitely still some un burnt organic remains, but most of it was proper ash. I heated it until it was all charcoal, and then it glowed slowly burning all night and was pretty grey in the morning. the edges were mostly where there was still charcoal, and when it was mixed in, it made everything somewhat black. most of it was burnt to ash though.

[@cynthiamary-mp6my]

good of you

[@PotionsMaster666]

I like this no-nonsense, to the point concept for simple content like this. This video was 🧁😁

[@placeholerwav]

dont they also have sodium carbonate? codyslab did a purification step by converting the pottasium carbonate to pottasium perchlorate

[@Riptide2533]

Would this also work for potash fertilizer?

[@kangkandevboro9958]

This pottasium carbonate eating in Assam (India) , dissolving with water 😂 , খাৰ খোৱা অসমীয়া ❤❤

[@ghreebadmee]

Nice.

[@user-nt4xo5kb7b]

Hello! I’m a high school researcher that needs to do this as a part of my study. Can I ask what alternatives I can do with the burning of banana peels to remove the potassium carbonate?

[@Pokeman_official1]

What did you do with the bananas?

[@TheCanadianChemist]

I froze the bananas and have been slowly using them in baking lol.

[@loveSparklesonU]

Can you use this on food?

[@Hey_nijame]

Can you tell me the actual total banana peel weight that you collected? Reply asap

[@TheB3e3]

How much sodium and calcium carbonate (and chlorides) are in the final product? This is the exact same process used to extract lye from wood ash, which contains a mixture of stuff.

[@TheCanadianChemist]

there shouldn’t be any calcium carbonate as it is not soluble in water. there also shouldn’t be any calcium chloride as calcium chloride reacts with potassium carbonate to produce insoluble calcium carbonate. it’s definitely possible that some sodium and potassium chloride is present in the final product, but it should be quite minimal compared to the potassium carbonate. after all, bananas have no salty taste when you eat them lol.

[@catdoglump4775]

how can i turn kco3 to kclo3 without ammonium perchlorate

[@TheCanadianChemist]

The easiest way would be to build an chlorate electrolysis cell and produce potassium chlorate from potassium chloride. I plan on doing this in a future project. You could form potassium chloride from potassium carbonate by reacting with Hydrochloric acid, but it would be cheaper to just buy the potassium chloride directly.

[@MattsProductions]

Now do : KCO3 ---> K

[@TheCanadianChemist]

I have a potassium metal video coming up soon!

[@MattsProductions]

@@TheCanadianChemist cool man

[@AngelRodriguez64.]

that surprisingly basic

[@user-tl9wo2xo2v]

I fucking love bananas, our ass of a teacher in uni, for Dosimetry and radiation safety decided to make a whole ass lab practicum about a "banana equivalent", which involved baking the life out of a banana and measuring beta activity of the char... Banaba🍌🍌🍌🍌

[@TheCanadianChemist]

That's epic!

[@user-tl9wo2xo2v]

@@TheCanadianChemist that is on paper, but the realisation is not that good🤣

[@Cupman668]

Donky kong cave is empty again!